A semester-long training program in the responsible conduct of research for investigators seeking to meet federal ethics guidelines

Why Ohio State needs CARE

The aim of CARE is to build a community around research integrity at Ohio State that goes beyond legalistic requirements for human subjects protection and the responsible conduct of research.

When thinking about the ethical challenges that arise in academic research, we often conjure up one of two extreme images: (i) detailed, compliance-oriented feedback from institutional review boards or (ii) newspaper headlines that call attention to disgraced scientists, falsified data, and retracted articles. Missing from this binary picture are the complex and difficult ethical dilemmas and challenges that most researchers face every day.

Researchers motivated by the scientific and social value of their work to responsibly design and conduct their research often face pressing ethical challenges in the field or in the lab. These ethical challenges arise out of the persistent social inequities that create vulnerable populations, and from the demands of current funding structures, publishing practices, and norms of professional advancement. They do not merely bear on the question of what is allowed—the questions that federal regulations and institutional oversight committees are designed to enforce—but rather on questions about what is the right thing to do.